Well, maybe somebody remembers that some years ago I posted about Black Manhattan – an interesting Manhattan variation utilizing amaro Averna (but I used Ramazzotti) instead of sweet vermouth. Actually I tasted this cocktail [elegant as Armani in his hey-day] some time later also with Averna, but I decided not to post about, you know, the scientific novelty was quite insignificant even though the cocktail was pretty good 8)

But now I have perfect chance to return to this exciting Manhattan riff. Some time ago flipping through Liquor.com I stumbled upon a rather similar to Black Manhattan cocktail, – Prospector, which looked like a next step in improving of Manhattan in a black way. In this case the vermouth (e.g. fortified wine aromatized with herbs, roots and fruits) is substituted not only with amaro Averna (liquor on neutral spirit base aromatized with herbs, roots and fruits) but also with sherry (fortified wine). Well, I think you’ll agree with me, it sounds perfect.

As a rule, I always try to find out a story of a cocktail I drink. But it often is almost impossible, I mean, unfortunately, background details often are unclear. As a matter of fact, there is a lot of stuff which is called Prospector. Really, I don’t see anything strange in the fact that many San-Francisco (or in general North American) guys have been mixing a certain posh cocktail and calling it Prospector :) By the way, many Prospectors are very interesting things [for example 1 or 2], but today we are going to enjoy mixing the one which was created (as it’s been specified on video) by Brian Means from Dirty Habit Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco.

This drink has attracted me by using Pedro Ximenez sherry which is rather a rare cocktail ingredient. I have been admiring sherry since last fall when I made an acquaintance with all sherry ranging from bone dry and fresh manzanilla to very sweet Pedro Ximenez. Being a real sweet tooth fan of Manhattan Cocktail, I was really excited by an idea of using that sweet and rich wine in my beloved [Black] Manhattan.

Totally as I’d hoped, the Prospector turned out a decent Manhattan. Ok, I must specify – a decent Black Manhattan in an almost classical proportion 2:1 but with such a misleading garnish opposite a quite sweet taste [As we all know, a lemon twist is a garnish for Dry Manhattan, in the Sweet (or regular) one we usually have a cocktail cherry].

A taste of this Prospector cocktail demonstrates one quite interesting tendency that appears in the modern cocktail world. I mean, a lot of modern bartenders (consciously or even instinctively) tend to create cocktails on a great classic basis (for example Manhattan) but with a big taste. I mean [again] there are certain boundaries in a vermouth richness (for example, Carpano Antica Formula: it initially seems SO rich, but for a while you begin to think about something more powerful, I’m right, aren’t I? ;) In this very moment we can be assisted with understanding main vermouth specifics which originate from raw materials for producing – herbs and wine, and the next obvious thing that we should do – to pick out another liquors that has similar specifics and use it in our favorite constructions to create the big taste! 8)

As a result of that approach under the mask of Prospector Cocktail by Brian Means, IMHO, we have got yet another excellent Manhattan riff with a big taste. A palate of the drink is dominated by the powerful richness and spiciness of american whiskey adorned with a perfect-vermouth-like couple – amaro and sweet sherry. This couple brings in the palate such vermouth things like herbal richness, delicate bitterness, and smooth fruit sweetness. In addition Pedro Ximenez brings a peculiar raisin note that makes this drink totally marvelous.

Also I couldn’t help tasting this drink with another, maybe not so proper, but so appealing for me, type of North American whiskey – Canadian whisky. Actually I used to mix my Manhattans specifically with this type of whisky before a lot of good quality bourbons became widely available here, in Ukraine. Now, obviously, I strongly prefer small batch bourbons (like Woodford Reserve or Knob Creek especially) in my Manhattans, but sometimes I need something not so distinctive, something more, let say, average for seeing the play of other used ingredients in a mix. So, I mixed the Prospector also with Black Velvet Reserve 8 y.o. – a fairly smooth and aromatic example of Canadian whiskies. The result was so interesting too. In this case whisky was not able to dominate the drink, so Averna and Pedro Ximenez could demonstrate their bests that also was quite pleasant. But in this case the cocktail, IMHO, is quite far from true Manhattan.

The key aspect of my cocktail hobby is permanent broadening of my imbibing horizons (and, unfortunately, of my liquor cabinet). Naturally, I couldn’t help uncovering a curious world of cocktails with fortified wines like, just now, sherry.

One of the classical cocktail constructions with а sherry base is a combination of wine and vermouth with a dash of bitters. Actually there were many such cocktails in old books [for example, the twins The Anticipation and The Invitation in ‘The Flowing Bowl’ by Schmidt, Willian (1892, USA), the Brazil Cocktail in ‘New and Improved Bartender’s Manual’ by Jonson, Harry (1888, USA), the Cuban Cocktail in ‘Louis’ Mixed Drinks’ by Muckensturn, Louis (1906, Boston, USA; also East Indian Cocktail, Reform, Duke of Malborough etc.]. However only two have become real classics – Adonis (with sweet vermouth) and Bamboo (with a dry one). I would love to start with the Adonis.

Albert Stevens Crockett in his ‘The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book’ (1935, USA) mentions that this drink was “Named in honor of a theatrical offering which first made Henry E. Dixey and Fanny Ward famous”, and this remark allows somebody to create an amusing story 8) or even make a speculation that this drink was invented by the legendary Jerry ‘Professor’ Thomas (curiously he was the founder of the Broadway Bijou Theatre, where musical ’The Adonis’ was performed more than 600 times in 1880s). Personally I found the earliest citation of the Adonis Cocktail in ‘Drinks’ by Straub, Jacques (1914, USA) even though a lot of similar concoctions had been printed in older books (see below).

There are at least two common proportions for the Adonis Cocktail now – 1:1 like ‘The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book’ by Crockett, Albert Stevens (1935, USA) or 1:2 like ‘The Savoy Cocktail Book’ by Craddock, Harry (1930, UK).

I use my habitual Martini&Rossi Rosso Vermouth and an inexpensive Elegante Medium Dry Sherry by Gonzales Byass Bodegas. Also I mixed the cocktails with a generous dash (or even two!) of Fee Brothers West Indians Orange Bitters or Angostura Orange Bitters. Both were perfect!

A word about sherry. As a matter of fact, since 2012 blended sherry (like the one I used) couldn’t be labelled as Amontillado or Oloroso. These names are reserved for the dry Vinos Generosos from Palomino grapes only (the Elegante sherry contains a blend of Palomino and Pedro Ximenez, now that kind of sherry is known as Medium… just Medium). But, retrospectively, throughout all of cocktail history such wines had been named as Amontillado and, respectively, Oloroso. I’m not so positive that bartenders of bygone days paid so much attention to the grapes variety for producing sherry but I’m totally positive that they recommended using rich and flavorful Amontillado and Oloroso sherries in mixing.

The Adonis Cocktail is a very friendly light aperitif drink. The main charm of it is that it is pretty light on booze but not in flavor. On one side this cocktail won’t be able to intoxicate you so much, but on another side it will be able give you true herbaceous richness.

As for me, the key point of the perfect Adonis Cocktail is appropriate diluting. As we know, water is an important ingredient of most cocktails (that are prepared with ice), and an optimal balance between diluting and cooling is half the battle. Since the cocktail contains no strong liquor, it, in my opinion, needs minimal dilution. In my home bar, I always use very cold and «dry» ice from the freezer (about -20°C), consequently I am often able to neglect chilling my equipment. But in this case I froze the mixing glass and also I kept ingredients in the fridge (excellent place of storage, by the way, for vermouths as well as for sherries) to minimize ice melting. So, my cocktails were diluted extremely precisely 8)

If you succeed in diluting your Adonis you could get a drink with quite pleasant sweet palate full of botanical, spicy and citrusy-fruity notes with nutty tang from sherry. Both fortified wines work perfectly together and are very interestingly improved by bitters and the twist.

Further, I tasted the Craddock 2:1 version. In actuality, the difference was not so remarkable as I had supposed. All the main characteristics were the same – quite a sweet palate with a ton of herbs, spices and oranges, and a piquant nutty sherry note. Both Adonises delight me equally – although I would prefer the first, you know, vermouth being my long-time passion while sherry rather a new one :)

Certainly I could have refrained from tasting the most famous sherry+vermouth cocktail – the Bamboo – particularly because I had picked up a seemingly absolutly inappropriate sherry for it (most recipes prescribe fino sherry, not Amontillado especially Medium Dry). But I didn’t 8)

Actually I had been dreaming about tasting the Bamboo Cocktail for a very long time. As William ‘Cocktail’ Boothby wrote in his ‘The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them’ (1908, USA), it was invented by Louis Eppinger – а german bartender, who had been managing the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan since late 1880s. Boothby prescribed mixing together 1 part of French vermouth, 1 part sherry, 2 dashes of Orange bitters and 2 drops of Angostura. As you might have noticed Boothby doesn’t specify the type of sherry (but some information from the book implies that he might have used a sort of amontillado or oloroso sherry, but who cares, this wasn’t the original recipe). Nowadays, the driest fino sherry is widely recommended to mix the Bamboo. The common formula is 1 part of fino sherry, 1 part of French dry vermouth and a few dashes of bitters – both orange and aromatic. The Joaquín Simó’s version also includes a teaspoon of a strong sugar (cane) syrup to help balance the drink and give it а bit more texture. As I used Medium Sherry I decided to decrease the amount of syrup.

I used Martini&Rossi Extra Dry vermouth as French vermouth and Elegante Medium Dry Sherry. I followed Bill Boothby on the bitters question to drop Angostura and add orange bitters by bar spoon 8) It worked here perfectly.

To all intents and purposes this version of Bamboo is practically the same as Adonis Cocktail. The difference is a sort of using of а different vermouth. The specifics are so similar – well-balanced sweet palate with a lot of herbal, spicy and citrusy notes. An excellent drink!

Eventually after close aquaintance with these cocktails I understood clearly their place in my own barlist. I think they are, first of all, perfect brunch drinks – not the booze for a Sunday morning but rich flavorful potions that are able to create an appropriate mood and feeling of well-being for the whole day off.